The Best Birth Control You Probably Never Considered

Almost every woman, unless she's trying to get pregnant or is beyond menopause, needs to think about birth control. According to Planned Parenthood, the least popular options in this country are diaphragms and caps, periodic abstinence, implants, IUDs, female condom, and spermicide. I always assumed their unpopularity was for good reason: They didn't work well, were messy or complicated, or had really bad side effects. Turns out that when it comes to at least one of these—the IUD—I may have been way off.

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Earlier this week, I learned that while the Pill is a favorite in America, worldwide the number-one birth control method is the IUD, or intrauterine device. The international crowd has been lured by some major pluses, of which I was not previously aware: You don't need surgery or even anesthesia to get an IUD (your ob-gyn inserts it); you can leave the device in for up to 10 years; it's nearly as effective as tubal ligation, but it's totally reversible so you can have kids soon after it's removed; and, if you choose the ParaGard IUD, it won't expose you to any hormones.

ParaGard has a little copper wire wound around it, which apparently causes some type of low-level inflammation in the uterus that makes pregnancy next to impossible. It's been on the market here for about 25 years, and side effects tend to be rare and minimal. Some women have heavier periods, and there's a slight risk of pelvic inflammatory disease. The biggest downside though is that it doesn't protect against STDs… but neither does the Pill.

Why isn't the IUD more popular in the states? Back in the 1970s, there was a different version (the Dalkon Shield) that caused many infections and led to infertility. As a writer for Slate.com explains here, that faulty IUD has long been pulled from the market, but the damage to the device's reputation was done. And that's really a shame.

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